Ballad of 1963

A ballad

A shuttle is launched by the U.S.S.R.

Bob Dylan is mad on Castle Street.

Wild Kingdom is hosted by insurance suits

and the Beatles please, please me.

There is nuclear power �" over here! Over there!

Patsy Cline is lost, in air.

Robert Frost wins a prize. Alcatraz closes.

Julia Child is cooking in French.

Arabia wins the Academy Award,

While Churchill becomes citizen.

James Whittaker conquers,

Dylan walks out on Sullivan,

Americans learn cigarettes kill.

Kennedy signs equal work, equal pay;

And plans a trip to Texas.

 

Louie, Louie is labeled obscene.

Reverend King has a dream,

But Governor Wallace doesn’t share it.

Four black girls die.

Two hundred thousand want rights.

And Lee Harvey Oswald is in Cuba.

 

The Stones go on tour.

Flora kills thousands.

A dam bursts in Italy.

Mandela on trial, Koufax wins MVP.

Kennedy dies in a motorcade.

 

What? Doctor Who?

Instant Replay is new.

Dial by pushing a button.

Kennedy dies in a motorcade.

Kennedy dies in a motorcade.

Reviews

[Peter Joseph Swanson]

And that was the year I was born! Love the poem. What a year!